Dad

“Who, If I Cried Out, Would Hear Me?” On Twitter, Tales And Tragedy

December 21, 2009

Not all of Twitter’s stories are saving stories, sure. Some of Twitter’s stories are banal. Most of those stories, maybe, are banal. But, too, some are great and some are beautiful and some are terrible and the great stories and the beautiful stories and the terrible stories – all the saving stories – live alongside the banal stories and all of them, all of them draw us ’round the fire to hear and to share and – sometimes – to survive.

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Of Shoes And Ships And Sealing Wax And Hoarding Stuff And Things

December 8, 2009

My dad was a hoarder. When he died, they had to cut through the outside wall of his house to remove his remains. There simply wasn’t room for the coroner to get him through the packed hallway, the corridors lined with stuff. They cut a hole in the wall and pulled out the contents of [...]

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That Place In The Sun

December 2, 2009

I’ve seen a lot of the world. I’ve traveled across Canada, and the continental U.S., and parts of Mexico, and most of Western Europe. I lived in Spain for two years. I’ve taken the train from Barcelona to Brindisi and a boat to Greece and  had a misadventure on a Greek island. I’ve canoed up [...]

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On This Day

November 11, 2009

I wrote this poem for Remembrance Day (Canada’s Veteran’s Day) when I was in third grade. I was very proud of it: I was asked to read it at that year’s Remembrance Day assembly in my elementary school, and I was the youngest of the students up on stage. I can’t remember much about the [...]

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Jesus Rode A Motorcycle, And He Liked It

November 10, 2009

I had my computer open last night, and Emilia saw the picture that I posted yesterday. “That’s the picture that I drew for Grandpa!” “I know, sweetie. I put it on my computer so that I could show it to other people. Is that okay?’ “Yeah. Do they know that I drew it?” “Yeah.” “Do [...]

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Jesus In The Sky With Dinosaurs

November 9, 2009

When my father died a few months ago, my daughter drew this picture: ‘This,’ she announced as we huddled over it together at my mother’s kitchen table, filling in the details, “is Grandpa’s Death House. It’s where he lives now.” “I’m sure that he’s so happy that you made him such a wonderful Death House, [...]

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Wordless

October 21, 2009

My Dad, in another time, some time ago when he was still here and we could sit together and talk, or not talk , or (as I am doing in the background of this picture) read the paper and just not care about the passage of time because time always seems infinite until it’s gone [...]

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If Death Were Good

October 14, 2009

According to my father’s death certificate, the cause of his death is unknown. The autopsy that was performed when (oh, god, to write such words and remain detached is beyond my ability) his body was recovered was inconclusive. More tests were needed. We would have to wait – weeks, probably, the coroner told me – [...]

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As Time Goes By

October 13, 2009

Jasper’s getting so big. There are moments when – in just the right light, with just the right angle – he looks like a little boy. Which he is, I suppose. He’s almost seventeen months old. He’s a toddler. He’s still not saying much, but he is a force of energy who spends every waking [...]

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It’s My Story And I’ll Cry If I Want To

September 28, 2009

You need to get over this. I hope you’ll get over this and start writing about other stuff again soon. It’s terrible what happened, but you need to remember that there’s worse. You didn’t lose a child. Some people get hate mail. I get hate mail, but I also get mail of a slightly different [...]

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